Wales has been involved in the DESD and with ESD in numerous ways. In 2004, Education and Learning Wales (ELWa) published its first report of sustainable development in the further education sector in Wales. Also in 2004, the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) published its sustainable development scheme Starting to Live Differently, which called for the production of an ESDGC strategy as one of its ten core commitments. In terms of the conceptualisation of ESD in Wales, 2004 was an important year, as the Education for Sustainable Development Advisory Panel and the WAG’s Global Citizenship working group merged to become ESDGC (Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship), which represented a commitment by WAG to “consider them jointly from now on within education.”
In 2006, the Welsh Assembly Government published its first ESD action plan, Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship – A Strategy for Action, which implemented a multi-sectoral strategy for an innovative integrated approach to both ESD and a separate subject, Education for Global Citizenship, entitled Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC). It committed to action in five categories: schools; youth; further education and work based learning; higher education; and adult and continuing education. Within those areas it identified the several areas for action over the three-year period of 2006-2009, including the appointment of an ESDGC champion, commissioning of a baseline survey of ESDGC in schools and other learning contexts, and the development of common ESDGC standards.
In formal education, Wales’ most recently updated curriculum has ESDGC as a major focus. In 2008 Wales published an updated ESDGC action strategy, which highlighted examples of good practices in schools. Estyn, Wales’ education and training inspectorate, has published a number of reports on ESD and GC in Welsh schools. In 2006, it published an update on inspecting ESD in schools, and a separate position statement on establishing ESDGC in Wales.
Locally, the Cardiff Council has also been involved in promoting ESD. In order to support ESD and Global Citizenship among schools, communities and individuals the Cardiff areas, the Cardiff Sustainable Education Network (CSEN) was set up by the Cardiff Council in 1999.
In addition to Welsh governmental efforts, several civil society organizations have worked with and independent of government to promote ESD. In 2006, the Swansea Environmental Forum, an association of environmental organisations working in Swansea, published the Swansea Environment Strategy: Time to Change and an accompanying action plan for 2006-2008. Cyfanfyd, the development education association for Wales, has also developed a Global Youth Work guide, a training of trainers ESDGC course, and various other activities to promote sustainable development and global citizenship.
Find out more about ESD in Wales by visiting the ESD&GC website commissioned by the National Assembly for Wales Advisory Panel on ESD, which contains resources and links. Please also refer to UKNC’s 2008 report on ESD in the UK.
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